Provide Tune - Ups and Maintenance along the Way

Perhaps more than anything else, as administrators, you can help create, build and sustain momentum for a business development culture that inspires, motivates and sometimes just plain prods attorneys to get out of their offices to connect face-to-face with prospects and clients. Here are a few things you can do to ratchet up the power of sales within your culture:

• Create forums for business developers to share their stories and spread their learning. Host attorney round tables focused on sales, help create pairings so attorneys can work side by side with a partner, or encourage practice groups to do a quick review of business development status reports at practice group meetings.
• Leverage that competitive spirit – as silly as it sounds, developing a little friendly competition between practice groups, offices, or peer groups can go a long way. Of course, to do this successfully assumes that some form of measurement must be in place. So…
• Measure progress – find a way to routinely capture and measure both effort and results. Keep in mind that the sales cycles for law can be long – so it's important to track not only quantifiable new revenue or matters but also the efforts that are being put into developing long-term relationships. Possible measurements include numbers of activities logged, total touch points with a client per month, or number of leadership posts held.
• Celebrate the successes! Even attorneys are not immune to positive reinforcement. Be sure to publicize and share successes far and wide through both informal (announcements at partner meetings, inclusion in firm newsletters, email announcements, etc.) and formal (bonus and other compensation tie-ins) means.

Appreciate the View and Savor the Thrill of the Ride

The fact that sales is quickly changing from one of those taboo four-letter words into the neutral five-letter word that it really is, demonstrates that the practice of law is rapidly changing into the business of law. As more and more firms begin to embrace corporate best practices into the daily management of their firms, sales best practices will certainly be included – albeit with recognition that they must be translated for a law firm culture.

As law firm administrators, you're faced with a critical decision in light of this new industry paradigm shift – help your firm get on the bandwagon or risk getting run over by it. You have the ability to help lead your firm through a critical change. To do that, you need to equip yourself with the right tools and processes so that you can provide vision, leadership and encouragement to your attorneys. The end result will be a more competitive firm for you, the shareholders and your staff. So, hop in, buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Alycia Sutor is a principal and Paul Trout is a partner with Akina, a consulting and training firm that helps law firms and corporations improve sales and leadership productivity. To learn more about Akina and its services for law firms, visit www.akina.biz.

Read More:

• How to Steer Your Firm to Greater Revenues when you're not in the Driver's Seat
• Help Stay the Course - Navigate Along the Way

Other Whitepapers:

• Technology Sales People – The New Success Profile
• Diagnosing Your Revenue Generation Issues
• Building a Client Service - Minded Staff
• High Impact Returns from Strategic Account Management
• How to Steer Your Firm to Greater Revenues when you're not in the Driver's Seat
• Sales Tip – Building credibility through "Discovery" Letters
• Selling to Multiple Decision Stakeholders
• Firm Leadership's Role in Retaining and Growing Clients
• The Pursuit Drill ™: Improve Your Sales Team's Ability to Close Deals

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